


Five People Cas Talked To

by queen_of_hells_bells



Series: The Five-Step Guide [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean's really not in it at all actually, M/M, bookstore, everyone threatens Cas, it's great, they talk about him a lot, which is fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 11:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2386433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_of_hells_bells/pseuds/queen_of_hells_bells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The interactions with the five people Cas absolutely HAD to talk to before he could keep dating Dean.<br/>That's what this part is. It's the sixth (??) part of a story about Dean and Cas and their relationship. Probably definitely should NOT be read as a standalone. Really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five People Cas Talked To

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MirkatManor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirkatManor/gifts).



First: Charlotte Bradbury; Bookstore Manager, PhD Candidate, and Hacker .

It hadn’t been Cas’ intention to talk to Charlie Bradbury; he didn’t even know she and Dean knew each other, but she had blustered her way into his shop one afternoon and just stood in front of the door, staring at him. He stared back at her.

“May I help you?”

The redhead gave him an appraising look, taking one long awkward step into the store. “You’re Castiel Milton. We’ve met before. At the conference in Seattle, a few weeks back.” There was something about the way the young woman was studying Cas that rubbed him the wrong way; he bristled.

“Yes. May I help you?” Charlie stifled a chuckle.

“And here I’d had you pegged as Spock, not Kirk. My mistake.” Something in Cas’ expression must have tipped the woman off to that he was about to question her comment, for she waved him off. “I’ve come to talk about Dean Winchester.”

Cas’ eyes widened, then narrowed. “You know Dean?”

“He’s my handmaiden. We LARP together.”

“Your explanation doesn’t make the connection any clearer. In fact, it makes it more obscure: Dean is a man, not a maiden, and I don’t know what LARPing is.”

Charlie laughed, shaking her head at Cas’ confused expression. “Never mind, I’ll let him explain it later. That’s not the point.” Taking a few deep breaths, she motioned to the leather arm chairs dotting the floor, “Please, sit. No? Well, I will.”

She sank into the aging chair with grace, not flopping herself in as so many of his customers did, and looked up at him regally. Cas stared down at her, arms crossed.

“Castiel.”

“Charlie.”

A small smile quirked the edge of her lips before she could shove it back down. “You’re funny; I see why Dean likes you. Which, incidentally, is what I’m here to speak to you about.” Cas stiffened, taking a deep breath and squishing his arms into his ribs. “Rumors abound that you’re trying to win him back, and even more that he’s already forgiven you.”

He moved to speak, to protest, but she waved him off. Again. “And that’s fine. But, Castiel, you should know something about me. I’m not just the manager of a bookstore, I’m also a hacker. And I could ruin you in ways you didn’t even know existed just by hitting a few buttons. It would take a matter of minutes; hours at the most.” She stood, somehow simultaneously looking up at Castiel through her eyelashes, and down her nose at him. “Also, Benny wants to talk to you. So...be careful there. Just so you know. Have a nice day!”

With that, she was past him and out the door, leaving Cas alone in his empty store, with the distinct feeling that he’d just met a very dangerous individual.

Second: Kevin Tran; Honors Classical Studies Student, KU.

Meeting Kevin Tran really was an accident, on both parties. The boy had just wandered into Cas’ store looking for a copy of _The Golden Ass_ , mostly because Charlie had already run out. It wasn’t until he was checking out and looked directly at Cas’ nametag that he glanced up in surprise.

“You’re him!”

Cas blinked, stunned by the young man’s enthusiasm at finding him. No one was this excited to see Cas. Literally ever. “Very possibly.”

“No, no,” he had evidently realized that his words hadn’t been very clear. “I _meant_ , you’re _Castiel_. You’re _him_.”

“And once again I will have to take your word for it.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “I’m Kevin. Kevin Tran. I’m studying the classics over at KU; I’m an honors student. I know Dean.”

Cas looked down at the young man appraisingly. “You seem a bit slight to threaten me. Or was that simply a casual observation?”

“It’s really just an observation. I’ll leave the threatening to Charlie and Benny; between them they could probably take down the UN. Though, if you don’t mind, I’m going to send my writing TA down to meet you. He’s been waiting for this moment for two years.”

Before Cas could ask why on earth some random classics students’ writing TA would want to meet him, Kevin Tran, honors classics student had disappeared out the door. Much like Charlie had done.

He wondered if it was something they practiced.

Third: Charles Shurley; Graduate English Student, Writing 231 TA, KU.

“Castiel Milton, what a pleasure. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Chuck Shurley, writing TA to Kevin Tran, was shaking Cas’ hand far more than was probably welcome in normal society. Cas’ right eyebrow raised skeptically. “Have you really?”

“Well,” Chuck blushed just a bit. “Not really. It’s more what I haven’t heard that’s more interesting.” Without even waiting for Cas to ask (he really wasn’t going to), Chuck went on. “See, I’m an aspiring writer, right? And when Dean appeared, all mopey and everything, I thought he’d probably make a pretty good book. After all, anyone who would make Dean that depressed has to be pretty damn stupid, right? Oh, yeah, no offense.”

“None taken.” The words were murmured, not really meant to be heard over Chuck’s rambling.

The frantic man nodded anyway, clearly pretending to have heard Cas’ words. “But he wouldn’t say anything about you--I could barely get your name and gender out of Charlie--so I started writing the story anyway, and just making you up. Gotta say, man, I did _not_ do you justice. At _all_. I am so sorry. I mean really, Dean would probably be pissed if he found out what a bad job I did on you. And him.” Chuck paused for a moment, wiping imaginary sweat from his forehead. “I mean, writing is hard and everything, but I didn’t do him justice at all. He really comes off as the moping heroine of the story, almost a--”

Cas cocked his head to the side. “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t really sorry, but it did get Chuck to shut up, so he chose to ignore the small lie. “But am I correct in assuming that Dean does not know about this story?”  
“Oh, god no. He’d probably murder me if he found out.” Chuck looked around the store, as though expecting Dean to pop out from behind the Paul Coelho display. “Don’t you dare tell him.”

“Okay.” Chuck’s anxious eyes darted back to Cas’, studying them intensely. “Though, I did recently acquire a lovely new friend. I’m led to believe she’s a technological genius. I’d imagine that a few words to her, that book would be in Dean’s email before two hours had gone by. If I were you, that manuscript would be gone before anyone gets the chance to read it.”

Chuck stared open mouthed at Cas, who looked back at him, completely relaxed, if a little smug. “Wow. You’ll get along really well with Benny. He’s scary too.”

Fourth: Benjamin Lafitte; Home Ec Teacher.

Benny Lafitte was baking when he met Castiel. An apple and blueberry pie that Dean had been asking about a few weeks ago.

Cas was staring at him from the doorway of the Home Ec room, remembering the day two years ago when he’d seen this same man in the baking aisle of their grocery store, making Dean convulse with laughter over bags of flour.

“Excuse me? Did you need something?” The deeply southern accent jerked Cas out of his memories, and he stepped forward.

“Benny Lafitte?” The tall man chuckled, his entire body jolting comfortably as he did so.

Wiping his hand on his apron, he shoved it towards Cas. “That’s what they call me. And who might you be?”

“Castiel Milton.” Abruptly the hand fell back to the tall man’s side, held there rigidly. Cas grimaced. “I assume you’ve heard of me.”

“Nothing but for a couple months. Then it was anything else, and then my boy comes back to me a two weeks ago, and you’re the only thing on his mind. If if don’t bother you, I’d like to have a chat.”

Benny waved his hand towards the table in the center of the room, stiffly inviting Cas to have a seat. Quickly, the scruffy-looking man stowed the pie on the warming plate, covering it with a towel before seating himself across the table from Cas.

There was a beat of silent staring before Benny spoke. “Dean tells me you two are back together. Now, call me old fashioned, but it should cost more than a week of apologies for someone to take back the person who rejected their offer of marriage with a graceless lie.”

The words were blunt and matter-of-fact, making Cas flinch. “He hasn’t...well, I don’t believe Dean has actually forgiven me. And I’m still trying to win him back. He just...he just knows that I still love him, and that I am truly and unbelievably sorry for what I did to him.”

“Does he know you won’t do it again?” Benny wasn’t trying to rile him up: it was clear that he was really asking. Would Cas do it again? The man just wanted to protect his friend.

Cas swallowed. “If he doesn’t, I will spend every day of the rest of my life trying to get him to.”

Benny nodded, apparently satisfied. “Alright then. But, just so you know, if you hurt him,” He shrugged, seeming not to know where to go with his sentence.

“You’ll kill me?” Cas tried to finish the sentence helpfully, but Benny shook his head.

“No, no. I won’t have to. Jo’ll do that.”

Fifth: Joanna Beth Harvelle; Undergraduate Nursing Student, KU.

Cas actually already knew Jo. Her and Dean had been good friends for their entire lives, so much so that Cas had originally been a bit jealous of their relationship, and it was impossible to spend more than two weeks with one without meeting the other.

So it was with a heavy heart that he knew Benny was right: everyone might warn him against the large bear of a man, but it was really Jo you had to look out for. She would kill without remorse or second thought if someone harmed Dean. Looking back on it, it was probably due to some heavy convincing on Dean’s part that Cas wasn’t three years dead in the ground. He’d have to thank Dean for that later.

He found Jo right where he always had: behind the bar at her mother’s restaurant. Dean and Cas had often gone on dates to the establishment, liking the homey atmosphere and free drinks.

What he wasn’t used to though, was the knife that stabbed itself into the door the second after he closed it.

“Hello, Joanna.”

“Castiel. What the hell are you doing here?”

Cautiously, hands held high, Cas walked into the open eating area. “I just want to talk.”

“It’d’ve been safer to call.” The young blonde stepped out from behind the bar, another small knife twirling dangerously between her fingers. Cas sighed.

“You’re a nurse now, you should know better than to play with knives like that.”

It was almost enough to draw a smile from her. “Where the hell have you been for three years? And don’t give me any of that ‘we broke up, I didn’t want to run into him’ crap. You know Dean’s schedule like clockwork, you could have at least come in to say hello.”

“And risk a knife to the head? No thank you.” He gestured to the door behind him, the small throwing knife still lodged in the wood. “Look, I didn’t want to die because I broke up with Dean. You two were always best friends; I wouldn't have stood a chance in that argument.”

She sighed, shrugging. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. Dean told me what happened; what you told him. You know. About,” she leaned closer to him, lowering her voice. “About Crowley. I’m sorry, really.” Leaning back, she sighed. “Anyway, I know you’re not going to leave him again. Don’t worry.”

Cas narrowed his eyes at her. “How could you possibly know that?”

“You came in here, didn’t you?” Her eyes were twinkling with amusement. “After all, you wouldn’t risk a knife to the head for nothing.” He gave her a small grin.

“I just need you to put in a good word for me with the others. That’s all.”

She nodded. “Can do. But, uh, if you _do_ hurt Dean again, at _all_ , in literally  _any_ way, the weight of all of us will come crashing down on you. You will not survive. Benny could literally crush you with his fingers; Charlie would drain your accounts and put you on all the black-mark lists to ever exist; Chuck might act like an idiot, but he actually can write like a dream, and anything he puts on the internet will be gobbled up and believed wholeheartedly by his creepy fangirls; Kevin is a literal genius, he can make pretty much anyone do anything he wants, all because he can just find stuff about them and manipulate it; and me? Well, Cas. You know what I’ll do.” With an evil little grin, she just looked up at Cas. “Capiche?”

He blinked a few times, a bit in shock. “I...I capiche.”

With that, her grin turned real, blinding. “Great! Now, would you like a drink? It’s on me.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, sorry it took me so monumentally long to post this. School's a bitch, but what can you do?
> 
> Secondly, thoughts? Comments? Stories of your own?
> 
> Thirdly, didja like it?
> 
> Fourthly, if you want to, you can hit me up on tumblr at queen-of-hells-bells.tumblr.com Find me!!


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